Ingalls funds STEM grants for Gulf Coast schools
Ingalls Shipbuilding division has awarded nearly $100,000 in grants to 25 projects at schools and educational organizations in Mississippi and Alabama.
The grants, which were requested by the organizations, will be used for projects associated with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
This is the eighth year for Ingalls' STEM program, during which the company has awarded more than $709,000 for STEM-related projects.
"These grants allow students to implement STEM knowledge into these projects, while having fun in learning and interacting with each other," said Edmond Hughes, Ingalls' vice president of human resources and administration. "We feel like these grants and other educational-related activities are an investment in future shipbuilders."
The local grants are:
BEST (Boosting Engineering Science and Technology): A volunteer-based program for middle and high schools that teaches skill sets for STEM careers. $5,000
East Central High School: Purchase of a telescope and associated components that will allow students to do daytime astronomy. $2,531
East Central Middle School: Funds will be used to allow the robotics team to participate in the BEST Awards competition. $1,500
Gautier Middle School: Purchase of Vex materials for the school's robotics program. Students will build and program competition-worthy robots. $3,394
Gulfport Central Middle School: Purchase tablets to allow students to watch pre-lesson experiments and research information on particular skills before performing the tasks in their centers. $1,000
Gulfport High School: Enable the school to transition the engineering classroom to Android-based devices and will require the students to learn how to make Android apps. $4,999.82
Hancock Middle School: Students will design and build a mobile robot to play a sports-like game. $4,998.18
Magnolia Middle School: Allow students to examine the processes that many scientists use to treat human pathogens. $5,000
Oak Park Elementary School: Students will be involved in building a tower for endangered chimney swift birds and reporting data on the birds to the North American Chimney Swift Next Site Research Project. $2,900
Ocean Springs Elementary School: Provide opportunities for 600 students to develop an active role in STEM by building a learning center. $4,071.22
Pascagoula High School: Students in environmental science classes will investigate the importance of natural resources and impacts on human behavior. $4,443.26
Resurrection Catholic Elementary School: Purchase launch kit modules and other equipment. $4,992
Singing River Academy: Purchase equipment to implement a VEX robotics program. $4,961.59
St. Martin High School: Students will work with unmanned aerial systems, remote-controlled underwater vehicles, remote and autonomously controlled robots and the structural soundness of bridges. $4,999.65
St. Martin Middle School: Students will incorporate sensory exploration into outdoor experiences and make observations about what humans have in common with other organisms rather than what makes us different. $5,000
St. Martin Upper Elementary School: Students will use electronic building blocks to spark their creativity and create their own light show and artistic robotic arm. $3,571.95
St. Patrick Catholic High School: Students will be involved in a project modeled after actual rescue situations where they will design and create a working robot to perform rescues. $5,000
Woolmarket Elementary School: Micro-robots will be used to demonstrate robotics education. Students will design, market and share a new robot-type product in the classroom setting. $1,971
This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 10:06 PM with the headline "Ingalls funds STEM grants for Gulf Coast schools ."